Steele to continue building cross-cultural relationships at Carpenter's Square
Kim Chaudoin | 615.966.6494 |
For nearly five years, Lisa Steele has been a familiar presence in the Office of Intercultural Development as assistant dean of intercultural development and director of Latino Student Services.
More than that, she has played a key role in growing cultural awareness on the Lipscomb campus, and has been a mentor, advocate and friend to students.
Steele will be building on the work she has done at Lipscomb as she leaves the university on Jan. 30 to become the new executive director of Carpenter's Square, a Christian community hub and outreach organization serving the multicultural communities of Nashville.
“I am very excited because this really builds on everything I’ve done here at Lipscomb and feels very much like the next stop God has in store for me,” said Steele. “But I am very much going to miss the students and the work that we do together here. We have accomplished a great deal together, and I know that these students will continue to be leaders in this area on campus and in our community.”
Carpenter's Square began with a focus on supporting graduating high school seniors prepare for college and employment through mentorships, training, and support. The organization quickly grew as it expanded it's mission to providing safe and affordable housing, acquired property on Nolensville Road that would later be renamed the Kyle Hutchison Center to serve as a community resource center, and established corporate partnerships with organizations such as Wells Fargo, Walmart, and the Nashville Predators. Future plans include expanding needed services to the Latino population, which makes up 40 percent of those who live in that area, along with continuing to reach out to immigrants and refugees, Steele said.
Under her leadership and through her program planning, student support services, and community involvement, Lipscomb experienced increased minority student enrollment each of the last five years. She is a nationally recognized expert on intercultural competency and the way universities serve minority students.
“Lisa Steele has shaped a generation of students at Lipscomb through her tireless efforts in making Lipscomb more diverse, more sensitive, more bold, and more loving,” said Josh Roberts, dean of student development. “Lisa has also led Lipscomb University's Office of Intercultural Development into being one of the most vibrant student offices on campus.”
Steele is the founder and creator of MASK (Multicultural Awareness Skills and Knowledge) Chapel which has become one of Lipscomb's most vibrant student communities. MASK Chapel features diverse speakers including politicians, civil rights leaders, community leaders, faith leaders and student speakers. Each week more than 300 students attend MASK chapel, which has become a model for other faith-based institutions across the country.
“MASK Chapel is by far the favorite thing I’ve been a part of here,” said Steele. “It was born out of a desire to have a chapel to help people understand and learn more about each other and about the cultures that are represented in our community. Culture is much deeper than what we eat, how we dress and where we live. This is a great place where faith and culture intersects and where we can learn together.”
During Steele’s tenure the number of cultural and international organizations grew from four to more than 14. In addition, under Steele’s leadership, Lipscomb became the first institution in Tennessee to start a college chapter of League of United Latin American Citizens, which teaches students how to participate in the political process including voter registration drives, meetings and travel to Washington, D.C. Also, this past fall, the OID launched a cross-cultural mentoring program that among few of its kind in the country.
“What I found when I came here was potential — we were poised to grow,” said Steele.
Developing student leaders has been an important goal for Steele.
“Many of the student organizations we have in OID have been the ideas of our students,” she said. “They are also led by students, which equips them with leadership skills that will benefit them for years to come. I have loved watching freshmen develop into leaders by their junior and senior years. Through their work in our organizations I want them to know how to plan and delegate and to be good servant leaders.”
Steele has also been a strong advocate for Lipscomb’s DACA students and employees.
“We have tried to provide a safe place for them where these students can grow, a place where they can come and not think everyday that ‘I’m undocumented.’ Where they can come and have dreams and hopes and they really realize they can become anything they want to be,” said Steele.
Senior Israel Muñoz has served as one of the officers for LULAC and traveled, along side with Steele and other students, on two separate occasions to Washington, D.C. for LULAC’s EMERGE Conference.
“Lisa’s work at Lipscomb has absolutely been essential to the lives of all students who’ve walked into OID. She has guided them in difficult times and cheered them on during successes. For those students who, like myself, are first generation college students, Lisa showed us the way at Lipscomb and encouraged us pursue our dreams, regardless of our background,” said Muñoz, a member of Lipscomb’s Presidential Ambassador Council and an intern in Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell’s office.
“Lisa, to me personally, has been one of the most important individuals in my life. I first met Lisa during my freshmen orientation in 2015. Since that time, she’s been an instrumental person in my life — as a friend, as an advisor, and as a mentor. In my most difficult times and in my most successful days, Lisa has been there for me. Lipscomb is losing an incredibly talented person who treasures and deeply loves Lipscomb students and OID.”
Mason Borneman, a senior law, justice and society major from Greenfield, Tennessee, said Steele has been a positive influence on many students.
“For hundreds of students, myself included, Lisa Steele has been a beacon of hope, source of confidence, provider of opportunity and example of Christ,” said Borneman. “Lisa has set herself apart as the person who has given students their first ‘yes’ after being told ‘no’ many times before in life. It has uniquely been Lisa Steele’s ‘yes’ that has allowed students to live up to their God-given talents and potential. As for me and many others, that ‘yes’ is one we will value for a lifetime.”
“Lisa leaves Lipscomb with a legacy of broken barriers, evolved minds, and changed lives,” he continued. “Lisa's leaving is a loss our campus will feel quickly, but I have no doubt we will all be witness to the impact of her work for decades to come through the lives of the students she guided, mentored and molded.”
A former MASK intern and a League of United Latin American Citizens member, Borneman said Steele has been a big influence on him personally.
“Lisa has singlehandedly changed the trajectory of my life in all of the best ways possible,” he said. “Every professional and academic endeavor I have embraced since beginning college at Lipscomb has been a direct result of the crucial lessons of advocacy, championship, and compassion I learned from her.”
Jackie Herrera, a junior psychology major, is the Emerging Leader/Special Events Coordinator for the Office of Intercultural Development and this semester she also helps organize MASK Chapel in addition to holding a leadership position in LULAC and being a member of iLead, FUTURO and W.E.B. DuBois Intercultural Honors Society.
“Lisa Steele has been such a strong support system for many us. Students can always count to come to the office and have a conversation with her about anything that might be troubling us,” said Herrera, who was born in Mexico and has called Antioch, Tennessee home for 16 years.
“Her reach extends far wider than just Latino students, or even just intercultural students. She started MASK as just a small group of multicultural students in a tiny classroom and now it's Lipscomb's biggest breakout chapel, bringing in students from every background, American or foreign. She has been outspoken about what her students need and always stepped up to help in any and every way that she possibly could. Students feel heard when they talk to her.”
Herrera said Steele has played an instrumental role in her college experience.
“I was a senior in high school, weeks away from graduation and very insecure about college. As a DACA student and as a first-generation college student, I felt very lost throughout the entire process,” recalled Herrera. “I met Mrs. Lisa at a scholarship event and she didn't hesitate to give me her business card and invite me to speak with her in her office whenever I needed.”
Her transition to college life at Lipscomb was difficult initially, until Steele connected Herrera with OID organizations.
“I got to be truly involved and was able to connect with other students who I could relate to. I found my place and it's all thanks to Lisa Steele,” she said. “There's something powerful about having someone be a support system for you and Mrs. Lisa has been that support for me. There have been many times where I've cried in her office, for academic and personal reasons, and she has always been there. I can say with confidence that I would not be where I am had it not been for Lisa Steele.”
Steele said she wants the students who she has worked with at Lipscomb to remember that they are leaders and to continue working to fulfill their dreams.
“I want to say to them, ‘You are smart. You can do this and be a leader here,’” she said. “I want to empower and affirm them. And, I want them to remember that what they are doing now is carrying on for the next group of students who will come along behind them.”
“I want them to know that ‘You are created for a purpose and are created for a time such as this,’” Steele continued. “There is a reason why these students are here, and while they might get discouraged just remember they may not reap what they are sowing right now – the goodness. But someone is coming up behind them. Just like Fred Gray, Rosa Parks and Delores Huerta - those are people who didn’t get to reap a lot while they were younger and living in it, but what they did was help change. The model, the road for people to walk on. And I want to encourage them not to give up or to get discouraged when they are pursuing their dreams and to know that what they are doing matters.”
Steele said she looks forward to ways she can continue to be involved with Lipscomb and its students through her new role at Carpenter’s Square.
In addition to her work at Lipscomb, Steele has served on a wide variety of initiatives sponsored by the Mayor's Office for New Americans, is past president of the board of The Branch of Nashville and is a former member of the board of directors of Futuro and Restore Ministries.
A graduate of Lipscomb University with a Master of Arts in civic leadership and a Bachelor of Arts in communication and French, Steele is fluent in Spanish and French and competent in German and Arabic.
For more information about the Office of Intercultural Development, visit www.lipscomb.edu/intercultural.